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It’s terrible in what is ubiquitously referred to as the JBlogosphere. Allegedly “Orthodox” people who have blogs attacking everything Jewish. Attacking and ranting against Rabbonim, Torah institutions, Gedolim, Yeshivos, various frum people, and the frum way of life in general. It is terrible. We need to have a response to these apikporsum, something that is sorely lacking.
As a member of the “JBlogosphere” I thank you for lumping us all together. Shall I now lump you together with other corrupt people who are otherwise called “frum” or “Orthodox?”
In other words, if you have problems with specific people and their views (including mine), by all means, speak up — but don’t lump the “JBlogosphere” together as if we’re one monolithic group. We’re no more monolithic than frum Jewry as a whole is.
The Wolf
People are hurting and they need to vent. They find it easier to vent anonymously than vent publicly, so there is a need to discuss what is bothering them and talk it out with others. If we can’t find a way to talk about what is truly bothering us, it will eat us up. It is a sad commentary that there is what to speak about and there are issues that need to be addressed on these subjects. Better that they don’t give us what to speak about than we have what to complain about.
Chein
Firstly, there are many blogs and im not sure all of theim are necessarily in the wrong. Yes, its hard to stomache but many of these bloggers are speaking about real problems in our co/munities that are not being dealt with. They have a right to be angry and frustrated over valid problems that are not being addressed. However on the other hand there are many bloggers who go WAY overboard and say crazy things and speak in ways that a frum Yid may not speak and use words a frum Yid may not use. So in many cases I think you make a valid point. Yes many Jewish blogs are disgusting and full of Apikursus and Gedolim bashing as well as foul language, malicious lies and what not.
Unfortunately, there are many people who either didn’t receive a proper education, have been overly exposed to secular thoughts and media or have issues with Yiddishkiet because they feel Hashem gave them a raw deal or whatever the case may be and it has caused them to become r disenfranchised, otten and miserable.
I really don’t think there’s anything that can be done but people should be warned to avoid these blogs because just reading the topics and comments…can have a bad effect on ones emunah and yiras shomayim. There’s a big mistake people make. While American law states that there is” freedom of speech” (which is actually becoming less and less free as the days go by) the Torah does NOT believe in the concept of freedom of speech and in fact there are many Issurim Deoyraysoh that deal with speech such as taking Hashems names in vain, Loshon Hora, Rechilus, Onaos Devarim, Issurim involving nedarim and shevuous….in Judaism speech is sacred so is the written word and we have an obligation to do our part to keep the Torah to the best of our abilities.
The problem is that the democratic nature of the Web means that whoever is loudest and most controversial, and has the most time on his hands, is the one who gets heard. Then, the media even pick up his ramblings as if they are authoritative information.
The other problem is that Google ranks its own Blogspot.com (Blogger) blogs way up in the rankings. I saw it myself a few years ago when my infamous satires of NK figures ended up one level below Wikipedia (another inaccurate source) in the Google results for the name of the letz I was lambasting. My most popular title was “(insert name of former NK activist) and the Magic Bedsheet,” an obvious parody with no authoritative information. It is still among the highest ranked results for that topic.
It may be time for askonim to hire someone who can blog properly and al pi halacha about Yiddishkeit and Yidden and drown out the nonsense. However, it would cost quite a bit to get the kind of SEO services needed to displace some of the “orthoskeptics” (grube yung) who have infested the Web with their ranting and reached the top of the charts.
600kilobear: Askonim did hire someone, and she did blog properly about the Agudah’s hashkofa. The problem is that they hired her for PR in general as opposed to blogging and shut her blog down after a day or two. There won’t be an effective response from charedi askanim to the bloggers that don’t like them until they get their heads out of the sand and admit that the internet exists and that their constituents use it.
Yes, I heard about that. Aguda is probably not the one to do it, at least not directly. Plenty of frum marketing and PR agencies out there; they should be the ones doing the work or at least guiding someone.
Alternately, someone should volunteer from the grass roots and get assistance for SEO matters from donors.
Can you tell me more abou this “jblogosphere”? What is its internet address. How many people on a day ordinarilly view this site and the threads (if that is what it is). I would be curious and might consider participating. Remember if there is evil on the internet, you have the light as a jew to suffuse it with orthodox words and discussions. So consider it a place to make Kiruv and no matter what someone does to curse you, mock you, ridicule you or harm your substance, Hashem is with you if you represent the true orthodox point of view and no matter what, there is ALWAYS a way to scatter the evil that exists in this lesser world so that it does no harm and is in fact a scarred remain of an improving light to the nations.
chein: That’s kind of harsh, especially since most of them don’t attack the “torah way of life” so much as child molestation, arson, and the like. Unless of course, you say that those are important parts of a torah lifestyle.
ItcheSrulik: Not sure which ones you’re referring to, but even the ones that attack arson and molestation simultaneously attack the Torah leaders of Klal Yisroel and over-accuse innocent people and exaggerate.
The most reliable blog when it comes to arson is the one that depicts arsonists as followers of a certain Rabbi Schmoigerman who lives in an abandoned mental institution. The author of that blog knows that the problem exists but he also knows that a tzibur by definition has bad apples.
Nowhere does it say that keeping any one mitzvah is a vaccination against not falling in another area. If that were the case, then why do we have dinei mamonois and dinei nefashois? Yes, you can keep kasher lemehadrin and be a total gonif or a megale arayois. But al pi Torah, an issur skila is an issur skila regardless of what civil law or public opinion thinks about one issur skila versus another.
That is the most reliable blog. A work of fiction portraying itself as such is always more trustworthy than half truths passing themselves off as the whole thing. Speaking of that blog, I wish you’d post more often. I like your stuff. That being said, what does your second paragraph have to do with the first?
It’s true. The Gedolim shlit”a have condemned the JBlogosphere about 5 or 6 years ago at the Agudah convention. It’s gotten much worse since then.
There should have been a third paragraph but I could not and still can’t formulate my thoughts :).
As for the Schmoigerman blog, I felt it ran its course. I’ll probably be back to it next Adar unless something really happens to warrant a post earlier than that. There are 2 recent cases that just may warrant a post…..
Depot: It’s actually gotten better since most of the louder and more obnoxious bloggers got bored. Have you even read any of the blogs you’re complaining about?
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